Math

In unit 7, I learned about Pattern block fractions, Equivalent fractions and Probability of events.

Some things I am very good at are Pattern block fractions and Equivalent fractions.

I would like to show you how I divide with the Partial Product Method.

I was in Ms. Coleʼs class for unit 8. I learned about Perimeter and area.

I understand the formulaʼs for area and perimeter.For a triangle the formula is BxH 1/2= area. For a rectangle the formula is BxH= area.

I will be starting unit 9 next week. I will be learning aboutFractions, Decimals and Percents. I will convert among fractions, decimals and percents.

Reading

This trimester I read the books Baby and Hero. My partners were Justin, Madison and Tageyu. My book club had 3 classmates in my group. My book clubʼs name was Insidious.

While reading I learned many different strategies to help me improve my skills. Some of the strategies I used were:

Post-its to write down important parts like the internal and external traits of the characters in the chapter. I used a chart to write down the setting, vocabulary, mood, technology and the main characters. I used a book-mark to write down words that I didnʼt understand. I used the dictionary and thesaurus to find out what the words mean on my hard words book-mark. I also learned to feel empathy for the characters in the book.

When I would meet with my book club members after reading a designated number of pages we would discuss some of these issues:

We discussed the hard words to see if someone else in the book club knew what they were. We discussed the authors purpose for writing the book. We discussed if we thought the story was fiction or non-fiction. We discussed the the new characters that came in the story and their internal and external traits. We discussed our post-its and charts. We all predicted what we thought would happen in the next chapter.

The genres that I enjoy most are:

Historical Fiction for example the book Caddie Woodlawn and Realistic Fiction for example the book Ramona Quimby, age 8.

Some areas I feel I could work a little harder at attaining are:

Using post-its to write down important parts and writing down the setting, vocabulary, mood, technology and main characters on my chart

Some things I feel I do my best at are:

Writing down hard words on my book-mark and looking them up in the dictionary and the thesaurus. I feel I do good at find the internal and external character traits

I do / do not read every night for at least 30 minutes and record it in my planner. I have been successful / need to improve upon this assignment. My favorite place to play at home is:

I do read every night for at least 30 minutes and record it in my planner. I have been successful upon this assignment. My favorite place to read at my house is in my bunk bed.

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Science

This trimester I learned about magnetism and electricity. First I read an article about Magnus gets stuck. That explained what a magnet was. The first magnet was a loadstone.

Then I did an experiment when I found out which magnets repel and which magnets attract. I found out that magnets with a north charge stick to a magnet with a south charge, But a magnet with a north charge will not stick to another magnet with a north charge. Opposites attract and the same repel. Next I put a magnet on a pencil with a south charge and then put a magnet with a north charge on top but they didnʼt stick. I kept putting more and more on until it was so heavy that the north and south magnets touched. I also learned about electricity so I did an experiment on how to make a circuit that will light a light bulb. The things I used were a D- cell (dry cell.) A D- cell is like a big battery, 2 wires and of course a light bulb. The way to make the circuit is that you touch one wire to each end of the D- cell and the other end of each wire the bottom of the light bulb. One end of the wire when it is on the bottom of the light bulb has to be higher than the other. My favorite experiment that we did is about electricity and magnetism. It is when I learned how to make a electro magnet. You get a long wire, another shorter wire, a D-cell, a steel rivet, a few washers and a switch. What you do is you coil the wire around the steel rivet (the tighter the better.) Next you attach the end of the long wire to the D- cell. Then you attach one end of the shorter wire to the switch and the other end to the steel rivet. Finally you turn on the switch and the magnet will pick up the washers, but when you turn of the switch the washers will fall down.

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Social Studies

I learned about the dynasties of China. The dynasties I studied wereThe Qin dynasty, the Han dynasty, the Tang dynasty, the Song dynasty, the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty.

I went to the Shanghai Museum for a field trip. Some things I saw and learned about were: The Bronze age and Bronze pieces. I learned about coins and how they used to look and how they have changed over time.

Next I am learning about Modern China from the end of the last dynasty from 1912 to the present date. (Share timeline with parents.)

I am presently learning about how our economy works in China. I know that there are many factors that affect our economy. For instance, people move here because there are a lot of recourses. People move to China to start their own company or work for one. There are also lots of natural recourses like oil, trees, silk and cotton.

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Writing script

This trimester I wrote a Realistic Fiction essay. First I thought of ideas from ordinary moments to get my idea for my topic. These were some of my ideas:

I LOVE horses... I wonder what the first horses looked like and how many different types of horses there are.

Everyday when I walk home I see the cars taking kids home... I wonder what the different ways people got home were when there were no cars.

Next I chose my topic. My topic was:

About a girl whoʼs parents want her to play an instrument. At first she is very excited about it until she finds out that she has to practice every single day, even her birthday. So many other things are going on at the same like her best friends parents getting a divorce, looking after her many pets and her very own tenth birthday! Will she find a way to stop this before it is all to late?

After that I developed the main character(s), name(s) are Kelly and Katherine. Some of their internal and external characteristics are:

Kelly is shy, has blond hair, blue eyes, 1 brother, 2 sisters, loves animals, almost 10 years old and has lots of pets.

Later, I made a story mountain. A story mountain is a plan that tells the beginning, middle and ending to your story.A story mountain is a lists a few words that tell about the beginning, middle and ending in order so that when you write your story you will have good ideas about what might happen in the story. The bottom of the mountain is when the small problems happen. The top of the mountain is when the worst problem happens. When the mountain goes down that is the part when the solution happens.

Once I had my plan I was able to write a rough draft. I will show you my story mountain and rough draft.Our class used a rubric to asses our writing. This rubric explains what is expected of a fourth grade writer. I went over this rubric with my teacher before and after I finished my writing piece.

The next thing I learned was how to write poetry. I learned many different styles of writing poetry. Some styles were:Haiku, Cinquain, Acrostic, Limerick, Free verse, Emotion poetry and Color poetry.

I will show you my poems on my blog that I uploaded using an application called ISSU. It is like a magazine or book with pages that turn.

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